The United Auto Workers union reacted angrily to General Motors’ announcement on Monday that it plans to cut 30,000 jobs and close nine plants in the U.S. and Canada by the end of 2008. In a statement, UAW president Ron Gettlefinger said GM’s action “is not only extremely disappointing, unfair and unfortunate, it is devastating to many thousands of workers, their families and their communities.” Noting that GM cannot “shrink itself to prosperity,” Gettlefinger added that the automaker’s decline in market share is not the fault of its workers, but “it is these groups that will suffer.”
The closings would reduce GM's North American operations by 40% compared with 10 years ago. During that period, GM's U.S. market share has fallen 6 percentage points to 26.4% at the end of October.
